Breathe
by VoldemortIsGoingDown
Summary: It all started with a friendship. The friendship of a boy and a girl who were destined to be torn apart. The friendship of four boys who should have always been brothers. The unlikely alliance between a girl and a boy who needed to be needed.


_A/N: Hey, guys. I got the inspiration for this over the summer and wrote furiously until the first chapter was complete. Because I value your opinions so much, I want to know how you feel about the plot, the characters, etc, and whether this is something you would want to read more of. I will, of course, keep writing, because for whatever reason this particular plot bunny has captured my imagination, and I hope it will capture yours, too. The first chapter will be hopefully up by Sunday; if not, it will be up before Christmas. For those of you who are fans of my other fic, _If Anyone Asks, _that is still my priority and the next chapter, which I am in the process of editing, will also be up before Christmas. I've had this fic in my Documents folder for four months, so I finally decided to uploaded. Please, please tell me any thoughts you have on this! It would mean the world to me. Anyways, without further ado, here is the prologue of _Breathe.

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_**Prologue**_

The silvery light of the moon illuminates the spiral staircase just enough for Lily to ascend without tripping. Her trainers, soft and pliable due to wear, make no sound on the flagstones beneath her feet. The night is calm and still, a sharp contrast to Lily's whirring thoughts.

She knows that Sev- no, Snape, she corrects herself- has every right to hate Black for the stunt he had pulled. It is only natural. However, Potter had no involvement in the terrible prank other than saving Se- Snape's life. Remus had confirmed that much. Despite this, Sev-Snape!- is determined to shove most of the blame on Potter. Though Lily is perhaps not bosom friends with Potter, she trusts Remus, and knows that if the tawny-haired boy says that Potter would never risk a Marauder secret for revenge, he is telling the truth. After all, he knows Potter and Black better than she.

Severus' dislike of Potter- and the rest of the Marauders, for that matter- has never been a rational one, at least not to those who are not privileged with an understanding of the quiet intellectual. Lily herself was forced on occasion to stop and wonder if there were not some key element of the rivalry between the two males that she had overlooked. However, knowing Sev's history as she does, she is aware that much of the intense loathing on her childhood friend's part was due to the loving, doting, and supportive parents James Potter possesses and Severus Snape lacks. Potter's popularity and group of best mates are also sore spots with the Slytherin outcast, something Lily, compassionate by nature, can sympathize with.

However, Lily's moral convictions refuse to allow this to excuse Severu- _Snape!_ she internally scolded herself- and his behavior, as she had informed him only an hour ago. _God_, how incredibly _frustrating _he is! It is moments like these that make her realize just how different she is from him. Despite her desperate desire to force him to rationalize his thoughts, so much of Snape's life revolves around irrationality that it is a lost cause. It is in Lily's nature to want to fix the problems of others, and it is incredibly disheartening to know that she could not help the one person she wanted to most. He will not let her. Besides, he had hurt her so terribly by choosing the acceptance of his house-mates over her that her only option was to accept defeat, something Lily is not used to, and something which Severus cannot comprehend.

Her fiery hair shines in the moonlight as she steps through the stone archway and into the astronomy tower. She inhales deeply, a faint floral fragrance only just detectable in the early summer air. Already the first throes of tranquility seep into her pores and relax her body. Drawing another calming breath, she raises her gaze to the velvet ebony of the night sky.

Oxygen flees her lungs as she stumbles backwards, the vision before her so terrible and tragic that she is momentarily stunned into inaction. The emerald orbs shine with sudden tears against her bloodless visage, her mind blank with panic.

"_Don't!"_

The desperate, raw shriek rips ferociously at her throat. One dainty, white hand extends pleadingly, hesitantly, cautiously, terrified that she might make too sudden a movement.

The tall, hunched figure balancing on the tower wall is silhouetted in the silver beams of Artemis, his features so shrouded in shadow that the girl cannot make them out. Second by second the minutes creep past, the occupants of the tower so still an observer might mistake them for statues.

Finally, with an agonizing slowness, as though he only has the strength to move only one appendage at a time, he drags himself off the wall and away from the lethal distance to the ground below. Ever so slowly he allows himself to sink to the cool stone of the floor, his broad chest shuddering with the effort of holding himself together. She hurries to his side, folding him into her arms as he buries his face in the crook of her neck. As his big hands clasp the crisp white linen of her uniform shirt, she rubs soothing circles against the hard muscles of his back, murmuring empty words of reassurance because she cannot possibly know if things will ever be alright. He raises his proud head from her shoulder, and Lily is overwhelmed by the haunting, hopeless agony in Sirius Black's pale blue eyes.


End file.
